Mini Obsession

Went to Santa Barbara to have lunch with a pal and maybe do a tiny bit of fabric shopping (I need a light gray for a next-up project).

We were talking about plants, no surprise given my current obsession interest, and pal says ‘I know where there’s a great plant store’ and ‘I’d like a new plant too!’

She was correct, it was a great store.

 Anthurium 'Coral Champion' 

Did she get a plant? That would be no.

Mini Phalaenopsis

Did I? Wellllll…

 Pachira aquatica, Money Tree

Got my 3 new babies all watered, lit (lighted?) and tucked into pretty pots for the night. This may be getting out of hand already…

Chop Chop

Our internet went out last night about 8 and I thought we (meaning me since hubby doesn’t do tech…) were going to have to buy and install a new router/modem since ours looked like a big, dark brick. 

 Good use for odd cups

Fortunately, it came back alive about noon today. So happy to not have that headache on my to-do list. But we’ll be keeping - just in case - the new hardware our internet provider shipped out today. Having it ready means we’ll never need it, right??!?

Before all that, I took the shears to my two money trees. I love the braids, the leaves, the thick trunks - basically everything about these things. Doesn’t mean I’m very good at growing them. Thanks to YouTube vids, they’re getting some long overdue maintenance.

I’ve had this big one since 2013. Lily Kitty looooved chewing on it, to the point I had to put stakes around it to keep her out. 

 Lily-proof spikes

It’s been sitting in the front bay window, neglected, looking scraggly but hanging on! for a couple of years. 

The wire holding this braid together should have been cut a long time ago. Poor tree.

Turns out they like neglect and that’s what probably kept it alive. Who knew??

Chopped the suckers off the base and then cropped everything back to just above the woody part of the stems. 

Put it under its own grow light - no more baking in the front window - and we’ll see what happens. 

The second tree is much smaller - I’ve had it since 2017 - and two of the three stems in the braid rotted and died last year. Too much watering, not enough neglect. 

I chopped the one lonely branch back to just above the last node on the stem (red circle above). It looks so sad!

 Soil is too wet but the trunk still looks good

The main plant guy I’ve been watching said he’s never had any luck propagating these, but I couldn’t bring myself to toss the top section sooooo… 

cut off the bottom leaf brackets and plopped them in a jar of fertilized water. Then wrapped the main stem in a wet paper towel covered in aluminum foil (old school!) Not holding my breath but it would be exciting if this worked. 

More grow lights are coming tomorrow… I’ve been pricing a second shelving system… there’s an orchid show in Santa Barbara in March (we both love orchids)… I may have found a new hobby to fill my grandkid-less time. 😁

Violet Babies

This is soooo Matt's fault. He gave me some plants they couldn’t take to SC, a few grow light bulbs he had left over, a Monstera here, a succulent there, and before you know it, I’m knee deep in ‘how to’ plant videos and sinking fast. 

Today’s project was separating this wildly overgown African violet into something healthier and easier to manage. 

I thought there were a few ‘pups’ around the outer edge and that the center section was one big plant. Nope! It was a giant mass of violets growing every which way.

Lots of leaves broke off during the process - it looked so much easier on the videos - and several pups lost their root ball and had to be discarded. 

Pretty mama violet

But! I successfully (using the term loosely until I see the results…) repotted 6 babies plus the mama violet. 

Don’t know if the leaves will propagate, but I put a handful in a glass spice jar and crossed my fingers. 

 Under the grow lights

The new plants are all on ‘wicks’, pieces of acrylic yarn that soak up water from the bottom reservoir - plastic, lidded take out containers - and into the soil. I’ve never tried this watering method so I’m really curious if it will work.

 Ran out of plastic containers so improvised using chopsticks to keep the pot above water

This is going to be so great, if it works. Birthday and holiday presents for everyone! 

Holiday Buffet

We’ve had this buffet* for… 30 years? more? 

For all that time, the bottom drawer has been a craft catch-all. Need beads, elastic, thread, packaged binding, glue, wooden things to paint for a project? The drawer will have it. 

It’s been a life project saver and a source of sparkly crafty joy for the grand girls. Of course the clutter spread, until most of this cabinet was filled with odd bits of crafty stuff.

I’d always used my mom’s hutch to store small seasonal decorations, so when Matt took that to SC last week (here), Plan B became clearing the buffet. 

Clear bins from the Container Store’s closing sale are now filled and labeled by holiday, with enough room in front of them to store our rotating collection of antique glass. Drawers hold flat-ish coasters, trays, trinkets and some table covers.

Out of all that, I kept half a grocery bag of useful stuff; filled 2 bags and a box with donations; and another 2 bags with trash. And left one drawer for junk odds and ends for old times sake.

* Funny story - Leia told me a couple of months ago that she never knew the buffet’s drawers/doors open. She thought they were just decorative and she was shocked when she saw me open one. It’s been here her entire life!! 😂

100 Days of Cross Stitch

My 100 Days buddy changed her goals today. 

Rachel started out working on her hand-stitched hexagon project but has now switched to cross stitch. 

The center motif makes me think of the teapot in Beauty and the Beast. Anybody else??

Isn’t it pretty?? Love those colors.

Scenes from a long, long drive

They made it! After 12 hours of driving (not counting breaks) Matt and Mary arrived at their temp rental house about 10:30 pm east coast time. 

Now for some much needed rest before the new house closes on Wednesday and the moving van arrives on Thursday. 

Lots of Progress

So much progress today… block #7 for the 100 Days project is done. 

Donovan and I did a couple of science-y things tonight - watched the embroidery background paper dissolve and disappear in a bowl of water (he was fascinated and is a lot more interested in my sewing project now 😁) 

 I told him to ‘smile like you’re going to see Mom’. Much bigger energy. 

and the ever popular soda/vinegar volcano to clean a (very) burnt baking dish. Good thing baking soda (he used a whole box) and white vinegar (only used half a gallon jug…) are inexpensive and easily replaced! Worth every penny to see how much fun he had.

Matt and Mary made it from wake-up in Albuquerque NM to somewhere in Arkansas tonight. 

OK clouds

Mary said OK is pretty but she wasn’t a fan of the Texas panhandle. Still planning to be in SC by tomorrow night. 

Donovan finished Lego project #2 (of 3). Mary said she’s having more kits delivered. Sure hope so or somebody is gong to be verrrrrrrry bored. Still 10 days to go before we fly out to SC.

 Tap/click the pic for a closeup view of the sparkles!

I’m just over halfway done making blocks for the windmill quilt. 

I goofed and cut the first batch of pieces to size before sewing them together, rather than sewing long strips together, then cutting to size. It probably doubled the time I’ve spent on this project. Note to self: think it through next time!

Settling In + Moving Update

Donovan was really upset Thursday night, the first night mom and dad were gone, so what’s a Granma to do?

Promise him a Target run for Legos! The kid is a Lego Master. He picked out 3 sets - with the agreement that he would not do them all in one day (he could do it easily.)

He called this the ‘bag of despair’ since it held the sets he hadn’t chosen to do first and they were sad. 😂😂

Look what replaced the hutch we gave Matt. A Black Thumb Stand. (I really hope not!) 

Matt gave me some leftover grow lights and hubby made a run to HomeDepot for the wire shelving. 

Everything looks so good, freshly watered and full of hope. Still need to find a tall light for the money tree…

M&M hit the road about 2 Thursday afternoon, just in time to sit in horrible LA traffic. Today they stopped in Phoenix to see Leia for a few minutes, then headed for tonight’s stop in Albuquerque, arriving after 10 pm. Not sure I could do that long of a day. 

Tomorrow night should find them in Arkansas and Sunday in S. Carolina. Escrow closes Wednesday and the furniture arrives Thursday. Crossing fingers everything goes smoothly.